Origins
by frances janvier
Summary: Charliestar had wanted a world of adventure. She got that and more. Along with being Casanovastar on the side.
**For the CharlieClan March monthly writing contest! Prompt:** Finding CharlieClan

* * *

"Charlieeeeeeeee! It's time for dinner!" Charlie's owner called out to her for probably the tenth time by now, but the glowing she- cat stayed still, transfixed by the sight of what was beyond her fence. Maybe even the legendary nursery rhyme Clans were out there too! She was precariously perched right on top of the fence, and wobbled a bit.

"Charlieeeeeee, it's dinnertime! Come on Charlie!"

 _There's so much more than this boring life out there!_ Charlie thought to herself. Hesitating, she tilted back and forth towards her house, warmth, friendly owners, and food, and towards the street and the forest.

Charlie felt a wrench in her gut for abandoning her kind owners. They had always treated her perfectly well and it wasn't right of her to abandon them. But... Charlie leaned forwards and jumped off the fence. "TO A WORLD OF ADVENTURE!" she yowled out into the air to nobody in particular.

Merrily, Charlie pranced down the curb, grinning wildly. She continued down the block and around a few turns managing not even looking back.

* * *

And then it was night. Past night, even, one could say. _Very_ early in the morning, then.

Charlie was pretty much certain that she was the only cat still up and moving around at this time, but the fluffy brown glowing she-cat was proved wrong when a pale-grey mottled older-looking she-cat leaped out the door and over the fence of a different house.

"Good morning!" the stranger yowled out, looking directly at Charlie, her face the epitome of ":3". Charlie was kind of in an odd predicament here. Should she point out that the cat would wake up everybody in a radius of several miles, and of not that, at least the entire neighborhood? Or should she ask abogue the forest, hoping to glean information fro the hopefully-wise? Or should she compliment her sparkling beautiful sky blue eyes? Charlie slapped that thought out of her head immediately. Surely the cat already had a mate.

It didn't really matter that much in the first place, though, seeing as Charlie was just instinctively a loss for words. The fact that it was so early probably had something to do with it, heh.

The cat either didn't mind a bit or didn't notice her silence, and continued on chatting.

"Anyway, howdy! I'm Sleepy, Sleepy the cat!" Sleepy doubled over in laughter over some joke or reference that Charlie didn't understand. But, at least, the name Sleepy didn't seem to match its owner very much at all. Sleepy was fit as a fiddle, and seemed to be fully awake and energized, and one could even describe her as hyper, pretty much.

Charlie waved a paw quietly. "...I'm Charlie, nice to meet you," she said as an awkwardly formal greeting.

"Well, Charlie, what are you doing wandering around this part of town at this hour of night?" Sleepy asked, grinning a bit.

"I... I ran away from my owners. I wanted adventure, I wanted to see the world! And I traveled around a bit and eneded up right here," she explained to Sleepy, gesturing a bit with her paws. With a small and slight cough, she asked her, "And, er, what are you doing up right now?"

Sleepy shrugged and laughed a bit. "Oh, just a little bit of this of that, maybe an early morning dose of sin, just hanging around waiting for fate to occur and pit me together with somebody on an adventure-"

"Wait a minute, did you just say sin?"

"No, please don't kinkshame me! I get enough of that from my old friend Poke!"

"...Kinkshaming? What's that?"

"MOVING ON!" Sleepy said, instantly changing the subject in the blink of an eye. "Will you go on an adventure with me, young Charlie?"

 _Hm..._ Charlie had only just met Sleepy, and didn't know if she could be trusted... but Charlie was more of the happy-go-lucky type of cat, and she nodded after a very small split-second of hesitation. "Where shall we go, Sleepy?"

"Where shall we go, nobody knows! We'll just follow whichever path the wind floats us on!" she exclaimed, and it was apparent that she was also of the happy-go-lucky type of cat.

Charlie laughed a little a bit, and then followed Sleepy as she strolled off towards a foresty bit of land. "Sleepy? Do you... want to make a Clan with me?" she asked tentatively. Come to think of it, the two of them made a very good team. If there was anybody she wanted by her side, it would be Sleepy.

Sleepy grinned and accepted the offer immediately. "My stars, of course! Hm, hm, now what shall we call it? SleepyClan, maybe?" she joked, goofing around a bit.

"I was thinking more like... CharlieClan!" One could see the giant lightbulb that had dinged instantly above Charlie's head. Sleepy grinned and nodded.

"Great idea, Charlie, I love it! CharlieClan it is! And you'll be Charliestar, eh?"

"I suppose I will, heh. And what would your clan name be?" Charliestar pondered for a minute while they were walking aimlessly side-by-side. "Ooh! That's it! I'll name you Sleepysong!"

Just before Sleepysong could express her delight over the fantastic name she had been given, Charliestar had wandered off and was nowhere to be seen.

"CHARLIESTAR!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Charliestar had been in delusions of splendeur, and had accidentally wandered away from Sleepysong. She was humming quietly to herself when suddenly she bumped into another cat.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Charlie exclaimed concernedly, stepping back a bit. The cat this time was a handsome black-and-white tom.

The tom laughed a little bit. "No need to apologize, I should have been watching my step more carefully," he explained, smiling. "Anyway, my name's Dusk. Who would chu happen to be?"

Charliestar blushed and fumbled a bit. "I'm Charliestar, although previously Charlie."

Dusk's eyes widened. "Charlie _star_? As in, from one of the fabled clans from long long ago?!" He was ecstatic, and bouncing excitedly a little bit.

"Yeah, I'm trying to start up a clan with my pal Sleepysong! Would you- would you like to join?"

He grinned. "Absolutely, Charliestar!"

"Hm... You can be Duskfall~!"

Together, they backtracked Charliestar's earlier path to find a rather grumpy and peeved Sleepysong.

"Charliestar, where have you been?! I found a good spot for a camp though, I think," Sleepysong exclaimed, glad she was back apparently.

Gesturing towards Duskfall, Charliestar explained how she had been daydreaming and had wandered off, and then had met Duskfall. Sleepysong managed to be only slightly hostile towards the new tom, and forcedly smiled.

"We're off to build a clan, the wonderful clan of CharlieClan! We hear it is-"

"STOP IT, CHARLIESTAR!"

* * *

Over the moons, CharlieClan acquired many more rogues, strays, and former kittypets. They were overall having quite a jolly time.

Except...

Charliestar was stuck in a love triangle. It was obvious that both Duskfall and Sleepysong were madly in love with her, but she loved them both and couldn't seem to choose. Enthusiastic cats of the clan even made ship names. Team Cheepy or Team Chusk was the ultimate question for everybody.

One day, Charliestar was taking a nap in the leader's den, when suddenly, Duskfall came sprinting in, followed by Sleepysong.

"Charliestar, you must choose! Who do you love more?" the two of them shout-asked simultaneously.

 _Um... Uh..._

"Actually, I love Kat more. She's a loner I've been meeting up with for a long time. Katlie for the win!"

And with that, Charliestar skipped away into the forest with Kat, leaving Sleepysong and Duskfall shell shocked.


End file.
